Now that steps 1 and 2 of the Customer Ruger 10/22 project are complete, we’ve got one nasty accurate rifle with what is perhaps the world’s most comfortable (and sporty) stock. As you’ll recall, with the help of Brownells, we installed a Revolution Extreme custom stock on the now customized Ruger 10/22.

The Force Trigger Housing System is ready to go out of the box. And idiot proof. We know.

What’s next?

Step 3: Ruger 10/22 Customization

How about a two-fer. This week in Step 3, we’re adding a Force Trigger Housing System which gives us a competition grade trigger AND an extended magazine release that allows speedy magazine changes without losing your firing grip. Nifty.

We have to confess that we got lazy with the shopping process for this episode. Overwhelmed by all the possible options for this step, we simply crawled to the Brownells GunTech team whimpering and asked them to take charge of the selection process for the next Ruger 10/22 customization step. A few days later, the Force Trigger Housing System showed up in the mail. And, as you’ll see, it couldn’t be easier to install. I suspect the folks at Brownells are well aware of our lack of engineering skills and deliberately chose something that we couldn’t screw up. Smart folks those Brownells Techs…

First, a little about this component:

This is a complete drop in aluminum assembly with match quality trigger pull of between 2 and 3 pounds. The housing is made from aluminum and is available in matte black or silver. The trigger features a serrated, semi-flat surface with over travel adjustment for individual shooter preference.

Step 1 is starting to get familiar and we should all be professionals at removing the action and barrel from the stock by now. I’m thinking about starting a new business: Stock Removal Specialists, Inc. There must be an enormous market for this type of service. My wife is not convinced. As always, be sure the rifle is completely unloaded (chamber too!) before starting. Just remove the single screw that holds our new stock to the receiver and gently lift the barrel from the muzzle end first.

The Ruger 10/22 is beautifully engineered – especially when you start taking it apart and realize how easy it is to do customizations. The entire trigger housing is held in place by two punch pins. Simply prop the receiver and barrel up on something non-scratchy like these custom wood blocks and gently tap the forward pin through. Make sure your wood blocks or alternative platform allows enough space for the pin on the bottom side. This should take very little pressure and/or light tapping.

Now tap out the rear pin in similar fashion.

Don’t worry if the pin does not want to come all the way out. On this rifle, the front pin fell all the way through fairly easily, while the rear pin remained in the receiver. Either way is fine as long as the pin pushes through enough to pull the trigger housing out. See? This is a low stress project after all.

Remove the original Ruger 10/22 trigger housing. It will slide right out. This is a great opportunity to clean out the inside of the receiver and re-lube things. Everything is easy to get to with the trigger housing removed. Think of it as ‘Spring Cleaning.’ Pun fully intended.

The new Force Trigger Housing System will slide right in to the now clean receiver.

Now, simply replace the two retaining pins. On this setup, the Force Trigger Housing System holes aligned perfectly with the receiver. Piece of cake.

Ta Da!

Now that you’re an expert at stock removal and replacement, put the barreled receiver back into the stock and tighten up the retaining screw.

That’s it! We’re done! No parts left over. No blood. All in all another successful project.

Join us next time as we add some more gizmos to this fine rifle. We’re going to call the folks at Brownells GunTech to see what we ought to do next. Perhaps an extended bolt handle. Would night vision goggles qualify as a rifle upgrade? Hmmm. Not sure the Brownells folks will buy that logic…

Remember to keep track of this project here. As soon as this rifle is done, it’s getting shipped back to Ruger where it will be photographed and placed for auction on Gunbroker.com with all proceeds going to Project Valour-IT of Soldiers Angels.

I help explain complicated things in a fun and easy-to-understand way. I believe that things don't have to be so complicated, although I suppose excessive techno-jargon keeps lots of well-intentioned lawyers in business.

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